Daily Kos: ROI - Return on Investment

by DrForbush
Fri Dec 08, 2006 at 03:29:01 PM PST

There isn’t anything that could be proclaimed the silver bullet to cure all our ills. There are, however, many things that we should not ignore because they are quite important concepts. One of these things is known as "Return on Investment."

People that have capital spend a lot of time thinking about ROI. Some people make ROI the most important thing to consider when they determine what stocks to buy or what efforts they should promote. This is not evil, this is part of the American way. However, ROI is not the only issue that one should consider when they think about investing. For example, a loan shark certainly has a huge ROI when he loans money to an addicted gambler. If the loan shark is also the bookmaker, then he can’t lose. The guy will bet in hopes of paying back his loan. If the sucker loses the loan shark gets the money bet, plus he can hold the debt over the sucker’s head. If the sucker should win he still gets paid back, and he gets the high interest rate to boot. This is known as a low risk high ROI deal. And, it is illegal precisely because of this.